"Hey."
Valkyrie jolted awake. "Wuh?"
Livena jumped down from the back of the now stationary cart. "We're nearly there. It's a twenty-minute walk that way."
Valkyrie rolled herself off the cart, still sleepy. "What time is it."
"Late afternoon. The sun is about to go down."
"Right."
She hadn't been wrong. Roarhaven was a lot smaller at this time, just a cluster of buildings, surrounded by tents. They obviously weren't used to people stumbling across the place. Everyone stopped to stare as they passed by as if they were a threat. Livena looped her arm around Valkyrie's. She fought the urge to tear herself away from the purple girl, knowing it would just draw even more attention. They moved toward the main building, trying to stay as non-threatening as possible so as not to scare the people into attacking them.
Suddenly, their path was blocked by a tall mage. "What business do you have here?"
"Good evening, sir. My name is Livena Estrange and this is my cousin, Valkyrie Cain. We would like to offer our services to the Resistance."
The tall mage relaxed. "Good evening, ladies. My name is Dr Octavius Noone. We welcome any aid you can provide. Although, we cannot take you on without the approval of the Dead Men."
Valkyrie's eyes widened. It hadn't quite crossed her mind that Skulduggery Pleasant also existed at this time.
"I assume they are your leaders, Dr Noone?"
"Skulduggery Pleasant is the de facto leader of the Resistance," Dr Noone said. "The Dead Men at his side are his advisors. He organises the attacks against Mevolent and his forces. Come." The mage gestured to a large tent. "We shall feed you. Then you can meet the Dead Men."
The formality of it all surprised Valkyrie, but Livena appeared at ease. Valkyrie was used to being more direct in her language, whereas the mage guiding them was clearly far more reserved and flowery as if he were afraid of offending them, but also didn't want to be overly familiar. He was clearly a gentle person and kind natured, but Valkyrie guessed his uptight manner was more likely due to the era. She didn't feel like speaking much in case she put her foot in her mouth doing so.
The tent appeared to be a communal area for the Resistance. Food was readily available and there was a fire to provide heat. People sat around, chatting and eating.
"This tent provides for anyone who is without a home here in Roarhaven," Dr Noone explained. "Many people have joined us, but we don't have enough housing to provide for everyone. Most people are in tents, so this place provides some warmth and a place to chat with friends."
"Sensible. No one wants to lose men due to low morale," Livena commented.
"Please, help yourself to food. I will come and find you both as soon as the Dead Men return from their mission." Dr Noone politely, bowing slightly as he left.
"Are you okay," Livena asked as they walked over to collect some food.
"Fuck no!" Valkyrie barely managed to whisper. "Everything is weird and too polite and I don't know what to say."
"You are doing fine so far. Leave the talking to me for now, and I'll try and get you up to speed with the etiquette soon. It's not too hard, just be polite and don't say anything blasphemous or sexual, particularly not in front of the mortals and particularly not in front of the rural folk."
"What can I say instead of swearing profusely then?"
"Goodness gracious me is pretty inoffensive."
"I am not saying that, for gods sake."
"You really should avoid using the word God in any other manner other than praising Him."
"You say it like you believe." They both walked over to a secluded corner of the tent and sat down to eat.
"Well, in this era, many mages are also Catholic. They are less concerned about these things in general, but that doesn't mean you shouldn't start building some good habits. You will be here a while."
Valkyrie frowned. "So, when you say a while, do you mean like a few months or years or what?"
"Not my place to say."
"Fuck that!"
"Language!" Livena stared down the furious glare Valkyrie gave her. "I'm sorry, my hands are tied here. If I give you too much information, this whole endeavour might just go tits up."
"Ha, why do you get to swear?"
"I mean it!" Livena's face was deadly serious. "If I give you any more information than I already have, you are going to start making the wrong choices. A deviation from the timeline here and there is not the end of the world, most wobbles seem to sort themselves out, but go too far, and we will end up in the wrong reality."
"What on earth do you mean?" A headache was starting to build from Valkyrie's temple and it wasn't really helping things.
"Okay, you watched Back to the Future, right?"
"Of course."
"So, Marty goes back in time and causes a seemingly massive disturbance in the timeline. He meets his mother the way his father should have met her. Right? Now, in the film, they get a chance to fix all this, but it still caused some changes. The dad gains confidence and Biff becomes scared of him."
"Yeah, so?"
"Now, in the long run, Marty existing or not probably doesn't make that big a difference in terms of big world issues. He is not on track to invent something revolutionary. Nor is his dad becoming confident cause a significant difference for the timeline. I would call this sort of event a deviation. It's not really going to change much, but it is still something different from expected."
"So, me being here is a deviation of sorts."
"Not quite. You being brought here is a bigger event because you seem to be this weird key for the downfall of Mevolent. But the things you do here are likely to be deviations. For example, from my investigations, I will expect you to make certain choices because you have a certain pattern of behaviours that indicate what choice you are likely to make. But, you also have your own mind and feelings and you might make a slightly different choice than my prediction. Still with me?"
"Yeah."
"That sort of event will be a deviation. Ultimately, the choice would be such a small thing that it wouldn't matter in the grand scheme of things whether you brush your hair one day or not the next. The timeline will correct itself back to the one we are currently on."
"So I have no control over what will happen. Why not just tell me outright and I'll do what I need to do."
"Unfortunately, if I told you what your future is, based on the timeline we are currently walking along, that would most likely cause a major event and we would fall from this timeline to a much darker one. Believe me, this timeline is not rainbows and sunshine. But it is one of the rare few where Mevolent dies and doesn't bring the whole world down with him. Plus you do have a choice."
"What choice do I have?" Valkyrie said. "I'm stuck here indefinitely until I fulfil some sort of quota or something and then I get to go home and, what, pretend this never happened?"
"You have some level of choice in all this. Whilst I might be able to predict or even know most of your actions, it doesn't mean they aren't your actions to take. I won't ever come between you and a choice you make because I know you make the right ones. I'm only really here to be your friend and support you through all this and I'll leave if you don't want my help."
Valkyrie felt like crying. Livena sounded so sincere that she was sure she was genuinely upset about the whole situation, but it didn't stop Valkyrie from feeling so alone. She missed her friends, her family, her little life she had made for herself. "I want your help," she whimpered after a moment.
"Then I'll stay. I'll have your back, I promise you. Although," Livena gave her a grin, "you might need to train me a bit in combat if you want me to be useful."
"Okay, that sounds good," said Valkyrie. "Maybe we'll even become friends."
"Excuse me, ladies."
They both turned to see Dr Noone stood behind them. "Oh, hello again," Livena smiled.
He didn't return the smile. "The Dead Men have returned. They are waiting to meet you both."